1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color image forming apparatus which forms a full color image on a sheet by electrophotography.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, people have different impressions of a color image depending on various factors. The observing conditions (lighting condition, season, etc.), the color of the observer's eyes, the observer's sex, the observer's age, the observer's psychological conditions, etc. may be the factors. For example, a color image which makes a favorable impression on Japanese may be reddish and unfavorable to Westerners. Also, it is probable that a color image makes a favorable impression on a person in summer and an unfavorable impression on the same person in winter.
In the art of color copying machine and color printer, the relation between the factors and the impression of a color image has been studied, and the study starts to be used practically. For example, the masking coefficient, which is one of the parameters of color correction in making print data from image data indicating the three primary colors, is set to a value which makes a favorable image to Japanese or to a value which makes a favorable image to Westerners according to the destination of the apparatus.